Ziegler



United States Patent OfiFice Patented Mar. 10, 1964 5,124,49s APPARATUS FOR FQRMING, TREATING AND APELYTNG LABELS T PRODUCTd Louis C. Ziegler, Skyline Drive, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Filed Oct. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 60,391 16 Claims. Cl. 156384) This invention relates to an apparatus for first forming a label, then applying the formed label to an intermittently actuated member and then removing the printed labels from said member and delivering the same upon a product supporting member operated in synchronism with the firts named member in automatically producing labeled products.

More particularly, the invention deals with an apparatus of the character described, wherein the label supporting member includes means for heating the same to insure definite positioning of the formed labels on said member and delivery of the labels to a series of stations, through which said member passes.

The novel features of the invention will be best understood from the following description, when taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosed and, in which, the separate parts are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views and, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan and sectional view of an apparatus made according to my invention, with parts of the construction broken away, one of the parts being indicated in a different position in dotted lines and omitting parts of the background showing.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view generally on i the broken line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and illustrating parts of the construction in elevation. g

FIG. 3 is a sectional view generally on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1, illustrating part of the construction in the dotted line position of FIG. 1- and with parts shown in elevation; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional detail view, partially on the same line 2--2 of FIG. 1, with part of the construction shown in elevation.

In illustrating one adaptation and use of my invention, I have diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawing, at lltl, a product feeding member in the form of a disc, having a series of circumferentially spaced prodnot receiving apertures 11, in which are arranged products 12 which may, for illustrative purposes, represent lipstick cases, having upper disc heads 13, as clearly noted in FIG. 3 of the drawing. The member is intermittently rotated upon an axis, diagrammatically illustrated at 14 in FIG. 1 of the drawing. The periphery of the member 10 includes, at its outer periphery, a gear 15 meshing with a corresponding gear 16 on what might be termed a workpiece or label supporting and feed member 17. The member I7, note FIG. 2 of the drawing, comprises a top plate 18 seated in a bottom plate 19, the latter including the gear 16. Between the two plates are arranged suitable electric heating elements, one of which is indicated at 24) in FIG. 2 of the drawing. In said figure, 21 represents the axis of rotation of the member supplying electric energy to the element or elements 26 in order to heat the plate 13 to definitely position the workpieces thereon, as later described.

'At 27, in FIG. 2 of the drawing, is shown, in elevation, a table or other support for the apparatus, upon which the shaft 21 is suitably supported. This table is also illustrated inv part in section in FIGS. land 4 of the drawing. Arranged circumferentially with respect to the member 17 in the construction shown are four stations, namely a label forming and delivery station 28, two printing stations 29 and 3t and a pickup and delivery station 31.

The station 28 comprises suitable means in the form of a frame 32 for supporting a roll 33 of a strip 34 of label forming material which is guided by one or more rollers 35 through forming tools, comprising a punch 36 and an apertured plate 37 for guiding the punch through a pair of apeitured die plates 38 and 39, between which the strip 34 is passed; note FIG. 2 of the drawing. The punch 36 is intermittently actuated at the required interval by any suitable means, such as compressed air delivered through a tube 4% to a cylinder 41 suitably supported over the frame 32. Actuation of the punch 36, in addition to forming a label 42, also delivers this label to position upon the surface of the plate 18, as diagram matically illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawing.

The undersurface of the strip 34 and the resulting label 42 preferably have a coating thereon of an adhesive which, when subjected to heat, as through the heating of the plate 18, will cause the label to adhere to the member 17 for a predetermined definite position thereon, so that the label can be then timely and accurately fed beneath the other three stations 29, 3t) and 31, for purposes later described.

In some instances, the heating of the plate 18 can be dispensed with, particularly when a type of adhesive is employed on the strip 34 which would cause the label to be at least momentarily adhered to the surface of the plate 18. Suitable means, not shown, is employed for intermittently feeding the member 10 and 17 to bring said members momentarily at rest for registration of the labels 4-2 with the respective stations'29, 30 and 31 and also for bringing the products 12 or the heads 13 thereof in registration with the station 31, for purposes later described.

Each of the stations 29 and 30 are generally of the same construction and, from this standpoint, the numerals for the elements of the station 29 will be primed in station 30. These stations comprise a shaft 43, 43' suitably supported in the table 27 for vertical movement of the shaft by an actuating finger 44, particularly in moving an arm 45, 45 adjustably clamped to the upper end of the shafts 4-3, 43' downwardly in the direction of the plate 18. A spring 46 is employed to normally support the arm 45 in raised inoperative position, as indicated, in part, in FIG. 4 of the drawing. Adjustably supported in the free end of the arm is a printing element 47, note FIG. 2, the adjustment of the elements being in an elongated slot 48 in the arm, the slot of the arm 45' being indicated at 48 in FIG. 1 of the drawing.

Keyed to the shafts 43, 4-3 is 'a disc clutch 49, as clearly noted in FIG. 4 of the drawing, the clutch of the station 30 being indicated at 49'. Arranged below the clutch 49 is a driven clutch 50, shown only in FIG. 4 of the drawing, and between these clutches is-a suitable leather or other friction disc 51. Fixed to the disc 50 is a combination bevelled gear 52 and sprocket 53, the bevelled gear of the station 30 being indicated at 52 in FIG. 1 of the drawing. The primary diiference between the station 29 and the station 30 is that, at the station 29, is a suitably driven shaft 54 having a pinion 55 operatively engaging the bevelled gear 52. Around the sprocket 53 and a similar sprocket at the station 30 is passed a chain, so that the drive of one station will be in synchronism with the drive of the other station and, in FIG..

again, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing. Arranged between the sprocket 53 and the upper surface of the bearing 58 is a ball thrust bearing, diagrammatically illustrated at 60, and upon the lower surface of the bearing 58 is a similar bearing 61. The shaft 43 is keyed to the disc clutch 49 in a manner to permit axial movement of the shaft 43, as diagrammatically illustrated at 62 in FIG. 4;

Between the bearing 61 and an adjustable nut 63 in threaded engagement with the sleeve 59 is a coil spring 64, the latter controlling the tensional or frictional engagement of the disc 49 with the disc 50 or the friction material 51 disposed between said discs. As previously stated, the station 30 is identical with the station 29 and, for this reason, the showing and brief description of the station 29 alone is deemed to be sufficient, except for parts of station 30 which appear in FIG. 1 of the drawing.

Protruding radially from each of the clutch discs 49- is a stop pin 65, 65 adapted to strike adjustable stops 66, 66' at ends of an operating bar 67 actuated by suitable means through a lever or arm 68 to move into and out of the path of the pins 65, 65'. The pins 65, 65 serve to bring the arms 45, 45' in registering position with the labels 42 when they are brought at rest at the stations 29 and 30, so that the printing elements as, for example, the element 47, can be moved downwardly into engagement with the labels to apply suitable markings, as at 69 to the labels. The markings 69 are only diagrammatically shown, but these markings may be names, trademarks, symbols or the like, as will be apparent, and this would also apply to the markings diagrammatically illustrated at 70 which are applied at the station 30. By employing the two stations, the marking 69 can be in one color contrastiug to the color of the marking 70. stances, additional stations, similar to the stations 29 and 30, can be employed for printing in more than two colors.

For inking each of the printing elements of the stations 29 and 30, I provide inking rollers 71, 71' which are directly driven from the gears 52, 52' by pinions, as at 72, 72".

It will be apparent, from. a consideration of FIG. 2 of the drawing, that the elements 47, in addition to being longitudinally adjustable in the arms 45, 45', are also rotatably adjustable therein,.so as to. bring the type characters in definite position on the labels for proper location of the characters 69 and 70 on the products 12', particularly when this arrangement is desirable on the products. However, in the present illustration of products, this registration is not a factor. Again, it will be apparent that registration of the two characterizations 69 and 70 with respect to each other on the product will be definitely controlled as between. the two stations 29 and 30.

The completely printed labels are next brought into registration with the station 31, which employs an arm 73 adjustably supported at the upper end of a shaft '74, the free end of the arm supporting a depending tubular member 7,5.having a suction cup '76 at its lower end. Communicating with the upper end of-75 is a suction hose or tube 77, so that, when the printed label is brought into registration with the station 31, the arm 73 will be lowered by an operating finger 78, generally similar to the finger 44. The suction will be actuated in the tube 77 to forcibly withdraw the label 42 from the plate 18 and then instantaneously deliver the same to a workpiece registering with the station 71, as at 12' in FIG. 1, the arm 73 being indicated in this position in dotted lines in FIG. 1 and in full lines in FIG. 3 of the drawing. 7

In removal of the label, it will be understood that the arm 73 is moved upwardly through operation of a spring 79 engaging a collar 80 on the shaft 74 and, when the arm 73 reaches the dotted line position of FIG. 1, the finger 78 is again actuated to move the arm '73 downwardly, the suction in the tube 77 is removed and the In some in-' label 42 is forcibly applied to the head 13 of the product 12. The heated or softened adhesive will cause the label to stick or adhere to-the-product 12 and, in the period of rotation of the member 10 from the station 31 to a position indicated at' 81 on the member 10, the label adhesive will dry and securely retain the same on the product and, at the position 81, the product is removed, as is indicated by the showing of the aperture 11 only at said point; whereas, a new product has been applied to the member 10 in advance of the aperture 11 at the position 81- and this new product is indicated by the reference character 12" in FIG. 1 of the drawing.

Insertion and removal of the products-at the positions 7 commented'upon above can be manual or automatic, de-

pending upon'the demands ofthe user.

The arm 73 is brought to'definite stops in its two positions, namely the full and dotted line positions of FIG. 1 by adjustable screws 82 and 83 supported in a bracket 84, as clearly noted in FIG. 1 of the drawing. By adjustment of the screws, the location of the arm on members 14) and 17 can be definitely located. It will also be apparent that the arms 37 are adjustably supported in the shaft 74, as indicated diagrammatically at 85 in FIG. 3 for properly positioning the cup 76 with respect to upper surfaces of 1% and 18, these surfaces being preferably in horizontal alinement.

The shaft 74 is arranged in a suitable sleeve bearing 86 mounted in the table or support 27 and a ball thrust bearing 87 is preferably arranged between 86 and the spring '79.- A similar bearing 88'is arranged between the lower surface of 27 and a gear 89 fixed to the shaft 74. The gear 89' is suitably actuated through a rack bar 99 operated in synchronism with the other drives of the apertures, so as to timely move the arm 73 from-the full line position of FIG. 1 to the dotted line position of said figure and, again, back to the full line position in the intermittent strokes of the arm, this operation being apart from the vertical movement of the arm through the medium of the actuating finger 78.

It will be understood, from the foregoing description, that, at the moment labels are formed and applied to the plate 18 while at rest, the printingelements as, for example, the element 47, are brought into operative printing engagement with the labels then positioned at the stations 29 and 30 and thelabel will be withdrawn from the plate 18 with the arm 73 in the full line position of FIG. 1. At this moment, of rest, the arm 73 will be moved into the dotted line position to apply the printed label to the product 12; whereupon, both members It) and 17 are again intermittently rotated and the above operation is repeated. It will be understood that, in the shifting of the member 17, the two arms 45, 45 are rotated in a clockwise direction through the operation of the bevelled gears 52, 52' and, in this operation, the printing elements pass over and operatively engage the inking rollers 71, 71' to ink the type, preparatory to bringing the arms to the rest positions at the stations 29 and 30, the latter being controlled by the stops 65, Here, it should be'pointed out that the gears 52, 52' can be constantly driven through the frictional drive provided, but the arms are held at rest at the stations 29 and 30 by the stops 65, 65', while these arms are moved upwardly and downwardly with respect to the plate 18 in the printing operations. Upon moving 66 and 66' out of engagement with the stops 65, 65, the drive will again be completed to the arms and the arms rotated until they return to their stop position, as noted above.

It will appear, from a consideration of FIG. 1, that the strip 34 from which the labels are formed can be intermittently drawn through the stations 28 by feed rollers, one of which is diagrammatically illustrated at 91 to bring successive portions of the strip in position to form next successive labels which are delivered onto the plate 18, as previously described.

Having fully described my invention, What I claim'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising an intermittently driven label feeding disc, a second disc intermittently operated in synchronism with the first disc, a plurality of stations spaced circumferentiall-y of said first disc, one station having means for applying a label to an upper surface of said first disc, a second station having means for printing a label supported on said first disc and positioned at said second station, and a third station having means for engaging and removing a printed label then positioned at said third station and for applying the same to a product supported on and exposed at the upper surface of the second disc and positioned adjacent said third station.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the second disc employs means for supporting circumferentially spaced products, to which the printed labels are attached when the products are positioned at the third station.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the means of said third station comprises a reciprocating arm having means for removing the label from the first disc and for delivering the same upon the product supported in the second disc.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first station comprises means for forming a label and delivering the label to said first disc.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes between the second and third stations another supplemental printing station.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the second and supplemental stations are operated in synchronism in printing spaced labels on said first disc.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said second and supplemental stations comprise intermittently rotatable arms adjustably supporting printing elements for definitely positioning said elements in registration with spaced labels on said first disc.

8. An apparatus as dfined in claim 7, wherein means is employed for inking said printing elements in the rotation of said arms.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein means are employed for moving said arms and elements toward and from the labels supported on said first disc.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first disc comprises a heated plate, and the labels employing means on the surface thereof engaging the plate which, when heated by the plate, serves to definitely position the labels on said plate in bringing the labels in successive registering positions with respect to the several stations of the apparatus.

11. An apparatus for forming, marking and applying labels to products comprising two discs rotatable in synchronism with each other, one disc having means for supporting products in definite spaced circumferential relationship to each other, the second disc having a series of stations spaced circumferentially thereof, one of said stations comprising a label forming and applying station for applying labels to an upper surface of the second disc at predetermined spaced intervals, 3. second station comprising a printing station for printing labels when positioned at said printing station, a third station employing means for engaging and removing printed labels from the second disc and applying the same to products supported on the first disc, and the drive of said discs being intermittent to maintain said discs at rest during the period of operation of the several stations.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the labels and second disc have cooperating means for definitely retaining the labels in fixed spaced relationship to each other for registration with the respective stations.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the second station includes a rotatable arm adjustably supporting a printing element, and adjustable means for intermittently stopping rotation of the am for registraion of the printing element with a label supported on said second disc.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein a supplemental printing station, similar to the second station, is in synchronized operative engagement with the second station, and both of said printing stations including means for inking the elements thereof during rotation of the arms of each printing station.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein said means of the third station comprises a reciprocating arm having means for removal of the printed labels from the second disc and applying the same to products on the first disc.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said third station includes adjustable means definitely positioning the arm of said station in registration with the labels on the second disc and the products supported on the first disc.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Putnam et a1 Sept, 24, 1918 

1. AN APPARTUS OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING AN INTERMITTENTLY DRIVEN LABEL FEEDING DISC, A SECOND DISC INTERMITTENTLY OPERATED IN SYNCHRONISM WITH THE FIRST DISC, A PLURALITY OF STATIONS SPACED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OF SAID FIRST DISC ONE STATION HAVING MEANS FOR APPLYING A LABEL TO AN UPPER SURFACE OF SAID FIRST DISC, A SECOND STATION HAVING MEANS FOR PRINTING A LABEL SUPPORTED ON SAID FIRST DISC AND POSITIONED AT SAID SECOND STATION, AND A THIRD STATION HAVING MEANS FOR ENGAGING AND REMOVING A PRINTED LABEL THEN POSITIONED AT SAID THIRD STATION AND FOR APPLYING THE SAME TO A PRODUCT SUPPORTED AND FOR APPLYING THE SAME TO A PRODUCT SUPPORTED ON AND EXPOSED AT THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE SECOND DISC AND POSITIONED ADJACENT SIAD THIRD STATION. 